


A Murder Most Foul

by OMGitsgreen



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, F/M, Gen, Ghosts, Gothic, Happy Halloween!, References to Hamlet, References to Macbeth, References to Shakespeare, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 04:32:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5115839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OMGitsgreen/pseuds/OMGitsgreen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Yona had to find out if her father had been murdered, and she could not trust anyone to help her. After all, a king was a king. No one could bring charges against a king for he was the final rule of law. And perhaps the ghost was not her father and maybe it wasn’t true." After a betrayal and a supernatural occurrence, Yona is spurned forward by revenge. However a supernatural revenge might be haunting her as well. AU for Halloween!</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Murder Most Foul

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween everyone! I wanted to post one really long fanfiction, however I was worried I might not be able to get anything up on Halloween, so I figured, I’d break this up into two parts so at least you guys get one part on Halloween! I’ve never tried to write anything with horror, so with this being my first attempt I would love feedback. 
> 
> This is an Akatsuki no Yona fanfiction inspired by two of my great loves, Hamlet and Macbeth as well as some gothic horror elements. And this is a combination of canon divergent and straight up AU so, somethings will be similar and some things will be very different. So without further ado, please enjoy the first part!

“So fair and foul a day I have not seen.”   
-William Shakespeare's Macbeth

* * *

The door was open, but only so a breath. The room swayed and the door creaked upon its hinges as the crack drew larger and then smaller, open and then close, expanded and contracting as if the castle itself had taken on a horrible and monstrous life. It was a life that shuddering and gasped with every deformed breath it tried to take, a life that was most dreadful. 

_Yona…_

“Leave me alone!” Yona begged as she pressed her hands to her ears again, her earrings digging against the skin of her neck, the pinpricks of pain bringing tears to her eyes. She curled up further in her bed. “Please…please…you are already gone!”

_A murder most foul…most unnatural…_

“No!”

_You must—_

“No!” Yona screamed as she jerked up in her bed, her body tangled in silk sheets, immediately her vision swayed and filled with crawling blackness as she felt the blood return to her head. Yona caught her mirror upon her table, her reflection distorted and stretched across the reflective surface as she looked from a dimly lit angle, but letting her know her red curls were an utter mess, her face was pale and gaunt and edged with lack of appetite, bruiselike bags beneath her eyes stained her cheeks and dimmed her eyes.

A headache pounded steadily in her temples, however besides the creaking of the door, the house was quiet. This immediately struck Yona as strange. The palace had been so loud and there had been so many people that Yona had escaped to her bedroom in order to avoid them, (she must have fallen asleep then). It hadn’t been so loud since her father’s funeral, and since her father was the king so many of his constituents had come to wish him farewell, but Yona eventually grew tired of parading around with a good face and had just needed to be alone—

Her tears came over her in exhausted waves, leaving her weeping utterly helpless and bitter sobs. Yona’s father had been the king until his death two weeks prior. He had been the king, and now her cousin Soo-Won was the king, and the announcement of his engagement having been the previous day. Yona had tried to work up the proper smile and expression the whole ceremony but had found it meaningless as Soo-Won had announced to the whole kingdom his intention to marry An Lili. Yona had been the princess, her father had been the king, Soo-Won had been her love, and Lili had been her best friend, and now none of that mattered any longer. Two weeks after the king had died her cousin had become the king, and two months after that the king had gained a queen, a queen who was not Yona.

“He will be good to her,” Yona tried to comfort herself despite the acute ache in her chest rubbing at the crust of her old and new tears upon her cheek, “there is no reason to worry, Yona. Soo-Won will…he will let me stay here, I am his cousin even if I am not his love. And Lili I am certain still loves me as her friend. Everything will be fine, I am sure of it.”

The words were empty, Yona feared. However if said enough hopefully they would fill up some part of her somewhere.

And so she lay down, her fleeting dreams dark and full of shadows and kept her from restful sleep. The next morning Yona was coaxed out of her bed by her ladies-in-waiting, summoned to breakfast with Soo-Won and Lili. Surprised at the invitation, Yona quickly had her ladies-in-waiting bring forth her more decorative robes. Dark grey like a crane’s feather and decorated with the dark patterns of trailing silver vines, her sash was black and her red curls were half pulled and pinned with white camellia pins. She was escorted to the main hall where both Soo-Won and Lili sat together, both dressed in their fine reds and blues and golds, and Soo-Won stood up to take her hand.

“Good morning, Yona,” Soo-Won greeted, his smile kind and his eyes concerned.

“Good morning, Soo-Won,” Yona said as she tried to return the smile and yet she found it ill-fitting to her face no matter how hard she tried.

“Yona, come sit with me. Here, let us pour some tea,” Lili said waving her over and she did so, as the attendant closest to her poured her tea. Lili smiled at her, pouring in Yona’s usual amount of honey, before offering the cup.

Yona sat next to her as Soo-Won retook his place at the head of the table, as servants brought forth an array of steaming rice, hot and spicy fish stew, cool cucumber soup, steamed eggs, roasted pork, and any other delicacy to be wanted. Yona stared at the menagerie of color and scent for a moment, feeling at a loss before opting to pick up her cup. The warmth of the cup permeated her cold skin, and she blew across the wafting surface to cool it down before taking a sip. But she found no matter how much she sipped at the hot liquid, there was no flavor. There was no floral notes perfuming her lips, no sweetness dancing over her tongue. She could have been taking a draft of the warm southern air for all she could tell. Yona woodenly grasped her chopsticks and began in on her food, before shuddering with equal disgust. The rice felt grainy against her teeth, the cool cucumber soup felt slimy against her throat, and yet she forced herself through utterly too small servings before pushing the food away with her stomach and heart aching.

“Yona…” Soo-Won began before clearing his throat. “Yona, we are concerned for you.”

“I’m fine, really,” Yona tried to say, before Soo-Won’s blue eyes met hers and she immediately swallowed back her lies, knowing them to be useless under the competent gaze of Soo-Won. “I have just been feeling…overwhelmed, that is all.”

“Overwhelmed?” Lili asked worriedly. “Please, you can tell me anything, Yona.”

“Well…I…I feel like everything has happened very quickly,” Yona admitted to them both.

“Too quickly?” Soo-Won asked her in return, his brow knitted.

“I mean…my father’s death and the marriage. It all happened very quickly, I just…I suppose I just need more time,” Yona told them, curling her hands in her robes.

“I understand,” Soo-Won said with a sigh. “Of course, it was your father and my dearly beloved uncle who has passed. However, I must make a request of you, Yona.”

“A request?”

“Our wedding shall be in four weeks’ time, as you know,” Soo-Won said, looking over to Lili who shared with him a tender look that twisted the dagger of heartbreak that was permanently lodged in her chest. “I should like you to be out of your funeral garb by that time.”

“But…but the customs,” Yona gasped as she stood up, looking between both of them incredulously. Suddenly she realized with a start what had been strange about that morning. According to custom the royal family had to be in mourning for forty-nine days, and yet Soo-Won was out of his mourning garb and in vivid blues and reds, she could excuse Lili for such behavior as King Il was not her direct relation, but Soo-Won? The entirely respectful and loving Soo-Won? What was he thinking? “If I’m out of my funeral garb then—“

“I am hoping to announce your status as a prospect then.”

“No!” Yona snapped at him, slamming her hands down upon the table, startling Lili with her rage before beginning to plead. “It is too quickly! It’s…it’s all happening too fast! Please give me more time—time to—“

Time to get over you, Yona wished to say but couldn’t as her tears choked her. Time to get over my father’s death.

“Forgive me Yona, but I must insist,” Soo-Won told her sadly.

Yona, completely overwhelmed and exhausted, ran from the room, her heel catching on the rug on the way out.

* * *

“Princess?” Min-Soo’s voice called her. Yona looked up and jolted slightly. She was suddenly away from her ladies-in-waiting and most importantly Soo-Won’s disconcerting gaze, not that it really bothered her but she had no idea how long she must have been sitting in a daze. Behind him, Hak stood broad and grimacing and Yona’s obviously disheveled state but Yona just gave them both a weak smile.

“Soo-Won has plans for my engagement,” Yona explained with a sarcastic grin. “Good thing too, they’ll be able to serve the funeral left overs at the ceremony.”

“What the hell is Soo-Won thinking?” Hak growled as he ground his teeth, clenching his hsu quandao in his hand and plunging the end of it into the ground in annoyance. “I swear, I’ll go set him straight—“

“General, cool your head,” Min-Soo told Hak before sitting by Yona. “Princess, Hak and I have come with some news.”

“It isn’t news, it’s ridiculous,” Hak prefaced whatever they wished to say to Yona. Min-Soo gave Hak a look of warning before turning to Yona again.

“Hak and I were just outside the city limits, doing some examining of the wall when we saw something.”

“Something?” Yona asked and Min-Soo looked down for a moment before returning her gaze.

“Well, we believe we saw his majesty King Il.”

“But that’s impossible,” Yona said, feeling her mouth pop open in shock, before she looked between Min-Soo and Hak. “How could that be possible, we buried him! He was buried two weeks ago! I held him myself, and he was dead!”

“I don’t know how it’s possible, I’m still trying to deal with that myself. We don’t know exactly what we saw, but it looked an awful lot like his majesty,” Hak said shaking his head. “He was sort of walking along the edge of the forest, but like I said I don’t trust it. It could be something else.”

“But it could be my father,” Yona said nearly lunging at Hak to grasp his hands. “Please take me with you! I need to see it, I need to know for sure.”

“Very well Princess,” Hak said with a heavy sigh, obviously displeased with the turn of events, “if that’s what you want.”

“Thank you,” Yona said, “then should we go tonight?”

“What will we tell Soo-Won?” Hak asked as he rubbed his chin.

“We will tell him that the princess asked to be taken to the woods in order to gather some flowers in order to pay her final respects to her father and move on,” Yona told Hak firmly. “That will work as a sufficient excuse, and as you will be there, Soo-Won won’t have to worry about my safety.”

“Then I will go tell his majesty about your plans,” Min-Soo said as he stood up and bowed before them before leaving Hak and Yona alone. Hak’s expression was just as displeased as before.

“I believe you to be making a mistake, Princess,” Hak said quietly, his eyes and expression dark. “Dead men walking can never be a good thing.”

“But you’ll come with me, won’t you?” Yona asked him.

“No matter what,” Hak answered immediately.

* * *

The air was cool and fog clung to end of her cloak and skirts and with Hak’s help she made her way beyond the wall to where Min-Soo and Hak had believed they had seen the apparition. The cool night air was full of the humming activity of nightbirds and the whistling wind through the leaves and the creatures who hide except for flashes of fur and bright eyes in the boughs above. Yona hadn’t been outside of the castle except for a few scant occasions, but everything seemed to large she could not help but think. The forest was deep and dark and alive, nothing like the elegantly formed and rigidly trained flowers and trees of the garden. The forests outside the castle bent to the will of no man, the trees stood tall and imposing their own will and design over her.

“It was around here that we saw him,” Min-Soo said, looking around obviously for a sign. Suddenly Hak bristled next to Yona, and shoved his arm out in front of her as if to protect her from an unseen threat. “General?”

“Listen,” He said, his gaze intense upon the trees. A chill suddenly overtook Yona as she realized what had been a noisy nighttime forest had become silent. No longer did the birds coo or the beasts of the twilight hours chitter or the wind rustle the leaves. Instead the silence like the fog that licked at their heels clung and dampened everything. Yona stood there, clutching onto Hak’s arm, her heart pounding in her ears as she scanned the dark forest.

And then a flash of light.

He stood there from between the trees, intangible and glowing eerily like the far off sliver of the moon. But she knew it was her father from his barely outlined figure.

“Father!” She half cried, as Hak held her back. The ghost turned to her, motioning towards her with his hand, and Yona’s struggle became even more desperate. “Let me go Hak, I have to speak with him!”

“You can’t!” Hak said sternly. “What if he’s not your father?”

“I’m commanding you, let me go!” Yona told him, and Hak’s face twisted up, but he released his grip. Yona turned to the ghost, “I will go with you, but only for a few moments. If I need anything we will stay within earshot.”

The ghost made no indication that it understood but simply floated forward through the thickets and the trees, perhaps fifty paces before it stopped and turned to look at her. The longer Yona gazed upon him, the stranger and more familiar he became. His form crystallized in a moment to that of her father, however the longer she gazed the more the spirit seemingly reverted to mist. It was blurred and hard to recall, as if the ghost was face from her most dimly lit dreams.

“My daughter,” The ghost said, its voice a so familiar whisper and so forlorn. Yona felt herself grow weak at it.

“Father, father is it truly you?”

“Yes, it is I, your father Il, and I have come to tell you of ill fortunes indeed,” The ghost said softly. “Forgive me for the alarm, but this was the only way we could speak.”

Yona reached out to touch his arm, to grasp at his robe’s arm like she used to as a child, but found nothing there except the cold dampness of mist. The ghost imply shifted away from her, its form held together as if spun from spiderweb and western wind, intangible and yet wholly present.

“Then speak, tell me what it is that will help you rest, my father,” Yona begged him. “If I complete it, then surely I will be cured of my heavy heart as well.”

“There is no cure, only a wretched knowledge that I must bestow upon you, or else our line will live in sullied shadow forever and ever.”

“Please tell me!” Yona pleaded.

“Revenge my foul and most unnatural murder,” The ghost commanded and Yona’s heart sunk.

“Murder?” Yona asked, sure all of her blood had drained out of her body in that instant, leaving her so unsteady and lightheaded that the wind could have carried her away.

“Murder in any state and at any time is an abomination, but this murder is the most foul, most strange, and most unnatural. If left unrectified it shall poison this land.”

“Murder? How—why? Who?” Yona said, feeling so numb. “You were murdered? Murdered? But there was no mark? Murdered? With nothing in sight? How? How could you have been murdered?”

“A poison administered by the most poisonous snake, your cousin. A dark and evil spell cast by him.”

“No!” Yona gasped, clutching her chest as if the words had been a blow to steal all of her breath. “No! It could not be, not Soo-Won. Please not Soo-Won!”

“Yes. You are not safe with him, you must escape.”

“But how? How do I know you are not lying?!” Yona demanded, her eyes burning with tears.

“My real will is hidden in the place where he would never look. Find it, find it and avenge me!” Her father commanded, and Yona for a moment caught a glimpse of a shimmering darkness beyond the light, a void in his eyes, the complete absent of anything that seemingly sucked her in—

Suddenly a great gust of wind blew Yona a step back, when she looked up again she was alone. Her wail of pain and sadness caused Hak to come flying through the leaves and branches with Min-Soo close after him.

“Princess? Princess what is it?” Hak asked desperately

“My father…my father was…” Yona tried to say but the words were too terrible, as she crumpled on the ground, shaking and sobbing. “Oh gods my father was…”

“What? What did it tell you?” Hak demanded.

The words almost breached her lips, threatening to spew over bitter and harsh. However the vitriol and venomous words could not escape. Her heart pounded in her ears, the world swayed and turned, and soon bloodless and cold Yona collapsed onto the dirt and felt and saw no more.

* * *

She was laying in a bed, warm and soft and so unlike the cold and muddy ground she had fallen on. Her head thrummed with a headache, the originated from the side of her head. She must have fallen harder then she had thought. Yona’s eyes opened and through the haze she saw the court physician touching her wrist. When a groan escaped her lips the court physician looked up and his eyes widened.

“My king, she is awake,” The court physician said as Yona sat up. Her breath refused to enter her lungs which squeezed tight with her panic as Soo-Won smiled at her, his lips pulling up to reveal his teeth as he held out a goblet.

“Drink some, Yona, it will steady you,” Soo-Won said, the words cloyingly filling the air and making her gag with the saccharine sweetness. The goblet was close filled with the liquid that would drown her, beat her, poison her—

She slapped the goblet out his hand with force, causing it to clang and spill onto the floor.

Soo-Won’s eyes were wide, and Yona’s hand hurt. The room was dead silent, filled with the heaviness of awed shock at her action.

“My—my lady!” The doctor said in scandalized gasp before looking to Soo-Won. “The princess must be hazy from falling, your majesty. Forgive her.”

“There is nothing to forgive,” Soo-Won said so gently that tears were sprung forth in her eyes. Oh, how beautifully he could lie to her. His arms reached out to embrace her, and at that moment Yona realized she could take the sword then. Yona could take the sword and run it through him, no one would be able to stop her, her father was be avenged, Soo-Won’s blood could wash away the stain that was his rule defiling her father’s kingdom. Yona could do it. Yona could do it at that moment—“Yona, I’m sure your head hurts very much. Stay and rest here.” 

“Where is Hak?” Yona demanded sharply.

“He is out patrolling, thank goodness he was with you.”

Yona stayed limp in his arms, not returning the hug nor summoning any expression as he pulled away.

“I’m very tried,” Yona said, her words coming out haltingly as her hands stayed limp and cold upon her lap. “I’m sorry. I just need to rest.”

“Very well, then you shall,” Soo-Won said before pulling away and smiling at the physician. The physician gave Soo-Won a skeptical look before nodding and leaving Yona alone. Yona sat there, her entire body rigid as she listened until the footsteps had disappeared before she launched herself from her bed to the pot, heaving her guts out as he skin crawled due to the vile and terrible touch she had been subjected to. Oh how revolting it all was, Yona thought as burning tears escaped her eyes as she wiped her hand across her face and continued to dry heave.

Soo-Won had murdered her father, but no. No she did not know. She could not take things at face value. Yona had to find out if her father had been murdered, and she could not trust anyone to help her. After all, a king was a king. No one could bring charges against a king for he was the final rule of law. And perhaps the ghost was not her father and maybe it wasn’t true. But she had to find the will, whatever kind of will it was, and she had to do it without letting anyone know until the time was right, and if that meant lying to Hak and Min-Soo then that was what she had to do. And if she did find the will and proved Soo-Won’s guilt, then it would be up to Yona to take care of it.

She stayed laying on the cool floor, allowing the marble and stone to leech the heat from her feverish skin. Yona knew she had to do something quickly, but what she had no idea. And she felt so ill and so tired, and the darkness of the room and how far the candle wax had burned down told her that it had to be late at night. She should try to get back to bed, Yona thought. Searching for things that might not exist would take her strength and endurance, and she had to be well rested.

Yona pulled herself up into the bed once more, laying back down and trying to close her eyes.

And that was when she noticed how quiet everything was.

A shiver ran down her spine as she turned to look at the wavering candle flame that cast long and strange shadows across her room, twisting chairs into figures and the bringing her opulent room to life.

The castle shouldn’t be so quiet, Yona thought. There should always be people about. So why? Why were the only sounds those of her panicked breath and her heartbeat? Why? Why—?

Scratching at her door had her sitting up in bed, breaking through the silence as if a mocking reply to her unspoken answer. It was as if long nails had found their way against the thick wood, grinding and sharpening with an incessant noise that had her skin breaking out into goosebumps. She got out of bed, denying every instinct that told her to hide. All she wanted to do was to dive back into bed, but she needed to know what it was as she reached out with trembling fingertips to touch and smooth out upon the door.

The noise stopped, the silence thick and choking her and causing her heart to hammer against her ribs.

“Who’s there?” Yona asked as her voice sounded impossibly and infuriating weak, as she squeezed her eyes shut.

No sound or voice came in return. She pushed to open the door, opening it just a crack in order to peer out. Seeing no one, she opened the door further to look down the desolate hall in both directions, finding it eerily calm and empty—

And that was when suddenly the door jerked close with force, as if someone standing behind it thrust it forward with all of their strength, causing her to cry as she was suddenly nearly tossed back and thrown roughly onto the floor, pain spiking up from where her hip had been bashed against the stone ground. Yona gasped in pain as she rolled over onto her back and scrambled up into the foot of her bed, banging her back hard against the wood and nearly biting her lip. The doors were shaking against the hinges, and then just as suddenly something came through the door.

Claws seemingly splintered through the wood, claws the color of fog that scratched forward, and it was then that her voice, which had been caught in her throat by her own fear surged forth with a single scream,

_“Hak!”_


End file.
